FIRE DESTROYS INDUSTRY IN SUNSARI Kathmandu, 5 June: Goods and property worth Rs. 10 million were gutted by fire that broke out at the Jaya Ganesh Small Industry at Jhumka, Bhasi VDC-5 in Sunsari district on Tuesday morning, RSS reports from Itahari.. According to the proprietor of the industry, Bhola Prasad Rauniyar, the fire started all of a sudden at 2 a.m. today. He said his family that lived on the top floor of the mill ran out to safety after they knew that the factory was on fire and saw flames with clouds of smoke rising up. Rauniyar said he immediately informed the fire brigade about the incident. All the machinery and equipment at the mill have been ruined by fire. No human casualties have been reported so far. The full extent of the damage is still being assessed, according to police. The fire was tamed at 6 a.m. by using fire engines brought from Itahari, Dharan and Biratnagar. Locals and personnel of the Armed Police Force and Nepal Police doused the fire. It is said the entire Jhumka area would be at risk had the fire at the factory located in the middle of the settlement not put out in time. It has been suspected that the fire started due to short circuit. nnnn Rs.700M GOVT. MONEY UNACCOUNTED FOR Kathmandu, 5 June: An estimated Rs 700 million spent from the government coffers over the last 14 years for income generation activities at the local level remains largely unaccounted for, officials have said. Government officials, seeking anonymity, said a preliminary study conducted by them shows that the money has been “largely misused.”, BINod Ghimere writes in The Kathmandu Post. Every year, the Non-Formal Education Centre (NFEC) under the Education Ministry allocates around Rs 5 million to ‘neo-literates’ (those who have received six-month literacy course) across the country. Fourteen years after the government started this project, the office concerned, NFEC, remains ignorant about where the money is being used and whether the project is having the desired impact. As per the scheme, NEFC releases Rs 10,000 to each of the estimated 50,000 user groups every year to help them engage in income generation activities. Officials say there has not been any assessment of the programme so far. “We have invested some Rs 700 million in the programme so far, but we don’t know whether the fund has been used properly,” said Dattatray Dahal, a section officer at the NFEC. “Our preliminary study shows the money has been grossly misused, but we cannot say how,” said an official at the Education Ministry, seeking anonymity. “We have complaints that some of the District Education Officers have distributed the seed money among their relatives.” The government doles out the Rs 10,000 to each group of nine “neo-literates” once they complete a 10-day vocational class. The group, however, will have to add another Rs 10,000 and invest the total fund in income generation activities they identify during the vocational training. Once the group starts earning, it has to transfer the Rs 10,000 seed money to another similar group of “neo-literates.” Officials, however, said not a single transfer has been made so far. NFEC has no records to see if the funds were properly utilised. According to the project, at least around 700,000 people would have benefited since its inception. Education expert Bidhya Nath Koirala said this is a “clear case of corruption.” “My study shows that the money has largely been misused and it is the failure of the NFEC,” he said. “As per the plan, the seed money was supposed to be transferred from one group to anther. But how can we expect it to circulate among different groups when there is no account of the capital fund itself,” Koirala added. NEFC officials blame the district level execution committees for the mess. “The NFEC is the coordination body and just releases the funds as per the demand of a particular district,” said Gopal Bhattarai, deputy director at the NFEC. Nnnn DEVELOPMENT FIRST SAY EXPERTS Kathmandu, 5 June: Nepal should not accept commitment in any form at the cost of development while making efforts towards green economy during the upcoming United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, experts have said, Pragati Shahi writes in The Kathmandu Post.. Developed countries are prepared to call for an "equal" level of commitment from developing countries on going green, which include call for increasing forest coverage, switching to cleaner forms of energy and reducing carbon emissions from industries. “We cannot afford to make mistakes that industrialised countries made during their era of development by creating pollution,” Krishna Gyawali, the secretary at the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MoEST), told the Post on Monday. “But we can also not accept any imposition in the name of environment protection if that really discriminates us against those who have already developed themselves and hinders our development, which is our priority,” he added. Governments from over 172 countries are taking part in the Rio plus 20 Conference on Sustainable Development being organised this year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, through June 20-22. The meeting also mark 20 years of commitments made by governments at the first international conference on environment at the Earth Summit in 1992. Green economy must be used to promote and enhance capacity in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) without constraining the policy space to pursue their national development agendas, the country's status report to be presented at the Brazil conference and prepared by the National Planning Commission says. The report further states that the country still has a long way to go in terms of sustainable development as both the social and environmental pillars remain weak. According to Gyawali, Nepal has immense untapped potential and resources which, once utilised, would help it to follow the green economy path and reach a green, sustainable, inclusive and equitable development. Developed countries have embraced green economy as a new roadmap for sustainable path by investing in more sophisticated technologies and information. However, Nepal cannot afford to follow them and must instead choose its own path of sustainable development and provide its people access to clean energy by promoting its natural resources like hydropower, forests, agriculture and ecotourism, according to Madan Lal Shrestha, an academician at the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST). According to an instance given by Shrestha, still around 65 percent of the total population of the country are dependent on firewood for cooking and it will be a big mistake if, in the name of going green, the people are barred from using it without giving them alternatives. “We must cooperate with the world to move towards greener economy, but we must not accept any obligations at the expense of the livelihoods of the people,” Shrestha said. According to him, adopting a greener and sustainable development path is a great opportunity for the country to harness the benefits of its natural resources, particularly hydropower and forests. “Our success lies in striking a fine balance between environment and development. This is what greenness means in our context,” Gyawali said. Nnnn